Automatic safety pick-up device for automobiles



Feb. 23 1926.

J. 5. BALL AUTOMATIC SAFETY PICK-UP DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Sept. 24, 1925 2 Sheats-Shae't l jade 4% '5 jail Feb. 23 1926. 1,573,795 J. 5. BALL AUTOMATIC SAFETY PICK- UP DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Sept. 24, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q I Guam Patented Feb. as, was.

"UN'ETED STATES PATEl lT OFFICE.

JOSEPH S. BALL, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T ALICE T. MOORE,

OF DENVER, COLORADO.

. AUTOMATIC SAFETY PICK-U1? DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES.

A plication filed September 24, 1925. Serial No. 58,288.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrrr S. BALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Safety Pick-Up Devices for Automobiles; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference-being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in safety devices for automobiles and has specialreference to an attachment that can be readily applied to automobile bumpers.

The automotive. vehicles are becoming very numerous with the result that many accidents occur. Automobiles of the type known as pleasure cars are comparatively light and are usually supplied with efiicient 2 brakes which makes it possible to stop them in a very short distance wherefore accidents are rarein proportion to the large number of cars in daily use. Trucks and large passenger busses are heavy and are also heavily loaded with the result that when they are in motion, they have an enormous momentum that cannot be immediately overcome. These vehicles, therefore, require a considerable distance for stopping. If a pedestrian suddenly appearsin the way of such a heavy vehicle, he is almost sure to be injured as it is impossible to stopwith the requisite quick-- ness. Cars of all types are usually provided with bumpers, which, however, are of very small value in protectingpedestrians from injury, being mostly used for the purpose of protecting the car from injury in parking.

It istheobject of this invention to produce a device that can be combined with the eabumpers in ordinary use or which can be Y vas from being unrolled. When need occurs the catch is released and the canvas is suddenly shot downwardly towards the ground by the action of the springs and forms an apron that will catch the object in front of the car. If desired there may be two aprons, one of wh ch is shot downwardly in the manner described and the other of which is projected upwardly.

My invention which has been outlined and briefly described will now be described in detail, reference for this purpose being had to the accompanying drawings in which the present preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the front end of an automobile showing a pair of bumper bars in place thereon and to which my safety device has been attached;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 Fig. 1; 1

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 33, Fig. 1;

Fig. 4. is a section taken on line 4- 1,

Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a view looking in the direction of the arrow 5 in Fig. 2 with portions broken away to better disclose the construction;

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 66, Fig. 5, and

Fig. 7 77, Fig. 5.

Numeral 1 designates the radiator of an automobile and 2 the front wheels. Secured to the chassis by any suitable means are two channel shaped bumper bars 3, 3 that project slightly to the outside of the front wheels and are curved rearwardly at their ends in the manner indicated by numeral l. Secured tothe bottom of each channel are two brackets 5 and 6. A tubular roller 7 is mounted for rotation between each pair of said brackets and has a spring 8, one end of which is secured to the nonrotatable extension 9 and the other end of which is Conneoted to the roller in a manner correspond ing with the construction employed in ordinary curtain shade rollers. The other end of the roller 7 has an extended trunnion 10 that projects out through an opening 11 in the curved end of the bumper (Fig. 2) and terminates in a squared portion 12 that is adapted to be engaged by a suitable crank (not shown) by means of which the roller may be rotated. Secured at one end to said is a section. taken on line rollers are strips of canvas 13 and let which.

maybe rolled ontofthe'rollers 7 in thesame way that a curtain shade is rolled onto'its roller. 'Fastened to the rear side of the bumper bars 3 and 3 are tubular members and 15 'whose lower ends are curved forwardly in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 6. The upper end ofeach' tubul'ar'member is. c-losed'by a. plug 16 that serves as the rising a straight side 21 and curved ends members. The ends 22 project into the tu-x 22 is operatively associated with the tubular bular'members in the'manner shown in l i gs.

,1, 4, 5 and 6 and are provided at their inner endswith ofiset portions'23 that engage the washer2 1uponjwhichthe lower end of the spring 17 restsg'" Thestraight part 21'extendsithroughthe slots 20and the lower or outere'nd of the canvas-'13 is secured to the straight part 21 in the manner shown in Figs.- 1,2. and 5. When the springsl'? are unrestrained, they force the U-shaped memher downwardly and outwardly until. the stops 23 engage the inner or upper surfacevof the plugs'18 when the parts assume the position shown in Fig. '1 and shown dotted in "Fig. '6. As the. U-sha'pechmember .is

- moved downwardlythe canvas 13 is unrolle'd fronfthe roller 7 and forms a downwardly 5 proj ecting apron 1). It is evident that the canvas wouldproject in a straight line fronrthefroller to'the bar 21 unless i it was forcedto'assume a curved position by means i 'of guides. I have; therefore,applied'to each side of the slot 20 a guide member 25 whose inn'er surfaces icooperateto form a channel 26 forthe receptionof the spherical guide '1neinbers 27 that"are secured to the side edges of the canvas'13 in the mannershown inQFigs. 3 and 4:. [I f'a' cran'lnis applied to the squared end 1201f the trunnion 11 0f the lower roller 7 and the roller rotated in a direction to wind the canvas thereon; the ten-.

sion"produced 'in the canvaswill move the arms 22 upwardly against the action of the springsfl7 until the parts reach theflposition shown in Figs. 6 and 7 In order to re tain' th'e partsi'n the eollapsed'pos'ition, I have provided a hook 28 which is pi'voted'at 29 tofa bracket 30 and which is acted'upon by vasv 13. lVhenthe parts have been collapsed engages. beneath the-rod 21 andiholds'the @parts in collapsed position. If the hook is pulled-bel' O'utofengagement with the rod 21 the; springs 17 will immediately function to project the parts to the position shown dotted in Fig 6. Secured in parallel relation i'withlthe' tubular members 15 and 15?.

are two other tubulanmembers 32 and 32 numeral 33. These tubeslhave slots 34. in their sides and have their upper ends closed by ornamental plugsJG. A straight bar35 has its ends secured to cylindrical plugs 36 that are slidably mounted within said tubes. Coiled compression springs 37 lie within the tubularmembers 32 and extend between the bottoms 33 and the plugs '36 and tend to move the plugs 36 and the bar 35 upwardly.

whose'lower ends are closed'as indicated by l The canvas 14 has :oneendse'ciired to the up per roller 7 and its other end fastenedfl to the bar 35. When the parts are inc'ol lapsed'positionthey are held in this posiw tion by means of a hook'28 thatfis similar n every respect to the hook 28 and fune tions in the same'way; If hook 2'8" is moved back out ofiholdingpositionyfthe. bar will immediately be i moved upwardly by the springs 37. For the-purpose-of"releasing thehooks 28 and'28 haveconneete'd them i by means of wlres or fiexible' 'metal"cables I 38 and 39 with a ring 4:0 on the face or the instrument'board 11. The driver by'grasping the ring 10 and giving. this a quick pull,- releasesjthe hooks 28and 28 and thereby I permits the canvas "aprons to be quickly] moved into the position shown in Figfl. f

The means that I have shown 'for' moving the parts to collapsed position,- as well as the" means provided for holding them; collapsed and for releasing-them, is illustrative only and maybe replaced by any othen means that is found to be suitable for this purpose. The tubular members 15, 15 32 and'32 maybe secured to the bumper bars 3 and'3? b 'any suitable" means, butf'as ani example of one meansI have shown clamps 4-2 that 'areheld in place by bolts 43. A

Normally'the parts are'kept in'collapsed position (Figs."1, 5, 6 "and 7).

emergency arises, the driver pulls thering When an 40 and moves the hooks 28' and 28 to in-l operative position, thereby permitting the parts to move to the position shown in Flgi 1 in which the canvas aprons 'will func tion to catch anything that maybe inthe way," l/Vith my safety device," it becomes" possibleitor'the driver'to save a humanor an animal hem: being runover' under' 'c'on ditions' 1 that would 'make-itimpossible to save them, in any other way. 1 f 7 I -.H2'tv1ngnow descrlbed my invention,

7 what I claim" as new is: i Y a spring 31 wlnch;urges 1t against thecan- 1. An automatic safety'pick updevice a roller, means for securing said roller in horizontal position in front of an automobile,

7 for automobiles comprising, ii'njcombination; Y

- to the pos tlon shown 111 Fig. 7, the hook onto and therefrom-{the oth'e'rend of said' fabric being secured to a bar; means for guiding fs'aid' bar towards and away from 5 saidfroller; spring means for urging said barawayfrom'the roller, means for'hold ing it in collapsed position and means for rendering the holding means inoperative.

2. An automatic safety pick up device for automobiles comprising, in combination, apair of spaced parallel rollers, means for securing said rollers in horizontal position in front of an automobile, a flexible fabric secured to each roller and adapted to be rolled thereonto and therefrom, the free ends of said fabric being secured to a straight bar, means comprising springs for producing a force tending to move said bar away from the rollers so as to unwind the fabric from the rollers, vmeans for guiding the bar when it moves, means for moving said bar to collapsed position adjacent said rollers, means for holding said bar in collapsed position and means for rendering the holding means-inoperative.

3. An automatic safety pick up device for automobiles comprising, in combination, a pair of spaced, parallel bumper bars,

means for securing said bars to the front end of an automobile and for holding them in horizontal position, a pa1r of spaced tubular guides secured, in vertical position,

to the rear of said bars, said guides having portions extending both above and below said bars, a second pair of tubular guides secured to said bars, said last named guides extending above said bumpers only, each of said pairs of guides having aligned guide slots, transverse rods having their ends extending through the slots and into said tubular guides, springs within said guides, said springs being operatively associated with said rods and tensioned to move the rods away from said bars, a roller secured to the back of each bumper bar, a flexible fabric member secured between each roller and each transverse ro'd, means for winding the fabric onto the rollers and collapsing the parts thereby moving the transverse rod towards the rollers in opposition to the action of the springs, means for holding the rod in collapsed position and means for rendering the holding means inoperative and thereby permitting the springs to move the rod along the guides and unrolling the fabric so as to form an apron.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOSEPH S. BALL. 

